1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a screw supply apparatus which accommodates a number of screws each of which has a head part and a rod-like screw part, or a number of other products such as rivets or tacks similar to screws, separates and aligns them, and discharges them one by one so as to supply them, and particularly, to a screw supply apparatus which supplies micro screws having comparatively small sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
This kind of a screw supply apparatus has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-94522. The screw supply apparatus is a component supply apparatus which aligns components such as headed components or flanged components, and puts the components into a specific posture such that a fastening device such as a screw fastening device can easily take the components out, and supplies the components. The component supply apparatus has a carrier rail, which has a guide groove which extends in a straight line direction and from which screws S are suspended. The carrier rail has a straightly advancing vibration part which holds the carrier rail so as to incline the guide groove by a predetermined angle, and an escape unit which erects each screw S if the corresponding screw S reaches the leading end of the carrier rail.
In the component supply apparatus of the related art disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-94522, the carrier rail should be curved upright from the predetermined inclination angle, and thus may not smoothly carry some components such as screws. Also, if the whole groove of the carrier rail is upright, comparatively small-sized components such as micro screws S may overlap each other on the carrier rail, and may not be completely aligned.
Also, since a scoop blade of the inside of a screw feeding drum is provided over the full length of the drum, some screws S may not fall to a receiving plate, and screws often fall to positions deviated from the receiving plate.